Optical fibers used in sensors and other optical circuits that use concatenated segments require stable alignments between the segments to ensure and maintain exemplary circuit performance. Fusion splicing, a controlled heating and joining of the segment ends, provides this stability in the x, y, and z dimensions and in rotational azimuth around the fiber axis.
Preparation for fusion splicing currently involves the use of mechanical or chemical methods to strip the protective jacket from the end of each optical fiber segment, and to clean the stripped optical fiber ends of residue in preparation for forming a smooth surface, such as with a mechanical cleave, at each optical fiber segment. The foregoing operation is not only tedious, time consuming and substantially normally carried out only by hand, but can also occasion damage to the optical fiber segments which can materially reduce the quality and lifetime of the fusion splice.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing that is easy to implement.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing that is reliable.
It is still another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing that produces a high quality, rugged and long-lasting fusion splice.
It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing that is efficient and inexpensive.
It is still a further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of preparing optical fiber for fusion splicing that substantially eliminates optical fiber contamination.
It is yet still a further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of fusion splicing segments of optical fiber.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of forming a fusion splice.
It is yet another purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of forming a fusion splice that utilizes no touch labor.